Punctuation marks as an aspect and cause of poor performance in the English language

Abstract

This essay investigated the role of punctuation marks as an aspect and cause of poor performance in the English language especially at St. Francis College of Education, Ghana. The essay outlined various aspects of punctuation marks i.e. the colon, the exclamation mark, the comma, the question mark, the full stop and the semi-colon on how they influence performance in English Grammar. In the analysis of this essay, previously published works were used to establish the relevance and the need for such basic punctuation marks in writing. It is clear and evident that most students write English language works without adhering to commands in punctuation marks. This is basically a glaring error that cannot be ignored as it could be quite detrimental to serious academic works. The punctuation mark is just like traffic symbols in road traffic usage, which cannot be neglected. This is not in any way different in the writing process. It is against this background that this essay seeks to investigate the causes of poor performance in English grammar.